How The Journal helped saved Seaton Delaval Hall
Dec 17 2009 by Tony Henderson, The Journal
Environment Editor Tony Henderson reports on a campaign which won the hearts and minds of the North East and beyond
Big tasks and even bigger opportunity
A DAZZLING range of opportunities is offered by Seaton Delaval Hall, its gardens and surrounding land, believes new property manager Catherine Atkinson.
The shell of the main central hall has been empty since a major fire in 1822.
But that makes the hall the only National Trust property with an inside, flexible space for all kinds of events and functions.
Catherine said: “I remember walking into it for the first time and thinking ‘wow, this is fantastic.’”
Then there are the perfectly preserved stone stables, with the 18th Century horses’s names still in place above their stalls. The west wing, where Lord and Lady Hastings lived, will lend itself to guided tours. The east wing was used to house German prisoners of war and for the last 50 years has served as a storage facility for the Hastings family.
Catherine said: “There is everything from boarding school trunks and paintings to fire extinguishers with instructions in German.”
The first task will be to make the east wing safe. The hall’s parterre gardens will be maintained in keeping with their creator Lady Hastings’s vision. A network of walks are available across the surrounding land.
Major jobs will now include re-wiring the hall and tackling parking provision.
“We will also plan our use of space and interpretation to capture all the aspects of life at Seaton Delaval,” said Catherine.
This will include the colourful history and characters of the Delaval family and the farming and former mining and glass industries of the area.
The equivalent of 14 jobs will be created by the opening of the hall on May 1.
Around 40,000 visitors are expected in the first year, rising by 10,000 in each successive year.
In the first year, the property will be open on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays, with guided tours by appointment on other days.
A main aim is to continue the community involvement which played such a key role during the campaign.
A lifetime to prepare for job of a lifetime
IT doesn’t get much better, it seems, than being queen of the castle.
But today for Catherine Atkinson it has.
Catherine is property manager for the National Trust’s Lindisfarne Castle, one of the most scenically beautiful and historic parts of the Northumberland coast.
Now she will also be in charge at Seaton Delaval Hall.
"It’s brilliant and I can’t wait to put the vision for Seaton Delaval into action," she said.
Catherine grew up in Durham City, where her father was a canon at the cathedral.
She began her working life as a student nurse at the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle and went on to study midwifery. Eventually she became an operating theatre sister in a nursing career spanning 17 years.
She lives in Warkworth in Northumberland with her husband of 40 years, Peter Atkinson, who retired six years ago as governor of Acklington Prison.
In their earlier years Peter’s work involved moving around the country which made it difficult for Catherine to progress her nursing career. So she became a freelance textile designer.
She took a textile design course at Harrogate School of Art and continued her studies at Leeds University.
Catherine specialised in furnishing fabrics and worked mainly with companies in the United States and Germany.
Later she lectured in textiles and then moved on to academic reviews of higher education establishments.
Ten years ago she and Peter moved back to the North East, with Catherine becoming an non executive director with the Northumberland Health Authority.
"But my life had become about writing reports and sitting in meetings," she said.
Then, on a leisure visit with friends to Lindisfarne castle, she heard by chance that there could be a future vacancy.
"I had thought about working in the charitable sector," she said.
"I reckoned that it would be nice to work in a place where you welcomed people who wanted to be there."
The Lindisfarne job came up and Catherine landed it six years ago.
"I have loved every minute of it," she said. "Now there is Seaton Delaval Hall and I am sure there will be challenges down the line in a five-year programme to get the vision for the site up and running."
